Jiyul
| Jiyul | |
| Hangul | 지율 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 知律 |
| Revised Romanization | Jiyul |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chiyul |
| Birth name | |
| Hangul | 조경숙 |
| Revised Romanization | Jo Gyeongsuk |
| McCune–Reischauer | Cho Kyŏngsuk |
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Jiyul (born 1957) is a South Korean Buddhist nun belonging to the Jogye Order, the largest in Korean Buddhism. She garnered national and international attention for her environmental activism, which has included dramatic and controversial methods such as a series of fasts-to-the-death.
She has fasted a combined 200 days on water, salt and occasional tea.[1] The latest of her four fasts ended in February 2005 on the 100th day. She had gone on this fast to hold President Roh Moo-hyun to his 2002 election promise to halt and re-assess a controversial tunnel project, part of a network of high speed train lines. The track between Seoul and Busan was planned to run through Cheonseongsan. She and environmentalist groups assert that the project poses a threat to the ecosystem of the mountain (which is also a home to her monastery).[2] In 2003, she prostrated herself 3,000 times a day for 43 days in front of Busan’s City Hall.[3]
She was also part of a class action suit on behalf of the Korean salamander (Hynobius leechi), as a representative for the 30 rare species on the mountain. Though 175,000 people signed a supporting petition, a court approved the project, prompting her to set out on the fourth fast.[1] Major environmental, human rights and religious organizations organized candlelight vigils, support petitions and marathon prayers, the making of prayer quilts and paper salamanders and solidarity fasts across the country.[4][5] When Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan agreed to halt the blasting and conduct a reassessment together with citizens’ groups, she ended her fast.[6] Another outcome was a bipartisan parliamentary committee that called for a major re-thinking of government development policy.[7]
Widely reported in the mainstream press and in the popular alternative media, her actions provoked outpouring of support as well as fierce public controversies over the ethical and long-term political implications of her protest technique.[8] Her diary was published (in Korean) in 2004.
See also
References
- 1 2 Asia News Net
- ↑ Dhamma Times Archived March 19, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Kyoto Journal
- ↑ Green Korea - Wetlands & Ocean
- ↑ "Jiyul Sunim (Korean Buddhist Monk Environmentalist)"
- ↑ Daily Times
- ↑ Asia News Net Archived February 28, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Yonhap News Archived February 28, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.